RE: PH Blog: putting the hype into hypercars

RE: PH Blog: putting the hype into hypercars

Wednesday 12th December 2012

PH Blog: putting the hype into hypercars

Given what else is coming Harris reckons Jag was right to can the C-X75, pocket the PR boost and move on



'O, Howl, howl, howl!' the motoring media cries, resurrecting memories of the XJ220 and speculating what might have been. 'Jaguar has decided kill the C-X75, it's a tragedy!'

The only problem being: Jaguar was never going to build the C-X75.

Was Jag really up to taking on McLaren?
Was Jag really up to taking on McLaren?
This was a car in the great tradition of the motor show special - the F-Type was not yet ready to be shown, the remainder of the range was using Zimmer frames, so Jag knocked out a supercar to keep the troops interested, albeit one of the best looking, most exciting sounding supercars (in terms of specification) of modern times. That it is a shame we shall never see a C-X75 on the road is not in doubt. That people genuinely thought it would make production must warm the cockles of every conman's heart.

The positive fall-out from this announcement is that it forces us to scrutinise the new generation of hybrid hypercars. 2014 will potentially see three of them launched: the McLaren P1, the new Enzo and the 918 Spyder. Even if it had planned to build the C-X75, I honestly think Jaguar would be making the correct decision to can the project just reading the names of those three products. I mean - who is going to buy all of these cars? The stock answer to that question in the year 2012 is 'The Chinese' but sadly those Chinese who can afford such toys still have more interest in being driven in very large, comfortable cars than scratching about in racing slippers.

Bang in the middle of the worst global recession in generations, perhaps ever, the car industry is about to produce a surplus of £1m hypercars. You have to admire the sheer chutzpah, no?

Wouldn't it just be better without the batteries?
Wouldn't it just be better without the batteries?
What makes this emerging class of hybrid performance machines so risky is they do not mark a continuation from a previous generation of products in the way F50 followed F40. They are completely new standalone machines espousing new technologies designed to preface the next stage of fast motoring. They will do things their predecessors could not do - the problem being that those new tricks might not correlate with the requirements of the potential owner. Slipping silently away from rest in a 918 Spyder is a very, very cool trick, but one I suspect will wear thin in the face of all that extra mass and the realisation that, in performance terms, the 918 will not hold a huge advantage over a Carrera GT.

People currently buy hypercars for the theatre and hyperbole. They want numbers to quote, noise to make and body panels to be gloated over. In many respects it is the simplest area of the marketplace, and now it is being complicated and re-categorised into something new. We'll need to drive these new cars next year to decide whether the new technologies smother the essential lunacy of a hypercar. Right now I remain a little suspicious but, as ever, willing and hopeful of being proved wrong.

Listing these complications and conundrums, it seems Jaguar has made the correct decision to avoid this million euro dust-up. Well, it would have - if it had ever intended to build the thing in the first place. Which it didn't.

Chris

 

 

Author
Discussion

mrclav

Original Poster:

1,278 posts

222 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
Very well put - I fully concur sir.

chris333

1,034 posts

238 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
absolutely spot on.

Putting it into production would be jut repeating the mistake of the XJ220 vs Mclaren F1. Good to see Jaguar learning from that lesson!

Black 325Ci

16 posts

136 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
Great article, very well written!

585bhp

46 posts

202 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
Chris, Last sentence, You are wrong.

OllieRacing

13 posts

145 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
What I can't get my head around is, £1m for a car that doesn't draw any attention when pressing the go pedal from others around? Surely for the people (sad, big ego, probably rich mid-life crisis burdened men) An F40 or a Mclaren F1 or even (my personal favourite) the CLK GTR won not only on looks but the amazing sounds of Turbos winding up or V12s belting out a fantastic note drawing the desired attention of others, that is what these cars were built for! The thought of an electronic noise generated the same as a motor on a remote control car you can buy in toys'r'us for ONE MILLION POUNDS does not fill me with wonder, even if they are ball bustingly fast. I am sure people with better brains than me will justify this when they launch their hypercars next year but at the moment I just can't get it.... If you're spending this sort of money on a car, you're probably not that bothered about the cost of a higher rate tax disc because of your CO2 emissions, the same as the Chinese aren't phased by a Roller or a Mclaren having 150% tax applied because of the engine capacity, i'm not sure who these cars are trying to please?!

PascalBuyens

2,868 posts

281 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
OllieRacing said:
What I can't get my head around is, £1m for a car that doesn't draw any attention when pressing the go pedal from others around? Surely for the people (sad, big ego, probably rich mid-life crisis burdened men) An F40 or a Mclaren F1 or even (my personal favourite) the CLK GTR won not only on looks but the amazing sounds of Turbos winding up or V12s belting out a fantastic note drawing the desired attention of others, that is what these cars were built for! The thought of an electronic noise generated the same as a motor on a remote control car you can buy in toys'r'us for ONE MILLION POUNDS does not fill me with wonder, even if they are ball bustingly fast. I am sure people with better brains than me will justify this when they launch their hypercars next year but at the moment I just can't get it.... If you're spending this sort of money on a car, you're probably not that bothered about the cost of a higher rate tax disc because of your CO2 emissions, the same as the Chinese aren't phased by a Roller or a Mclaren having 150% tax applied because of the engine capacity, i'm not sure who these cars are trying to please?!
Blame it on the rule making nitpickers... they're the ones who made most of the cars what they are today, enforcing ever tighter rules for manufacturers.

Veeayt

3,139 posts

204 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
Translated to Russian, bookfaced smile

benzpassion

36 posts

135 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
585bhp said:
Chris, Last sentence, You are wrong.
Agree.

I'm afraid Mr Chris Harris is firmly co-opted into the spin for JLR camp, with this rather shameful article. Shameful in that one would expect far more objectivity from Mr Harris.

The article reads remarkably like the same "Operation Damage Limitation from C-X75 cancellation" piece from Mr Steve Davies of Skiddmark.com, posted last night, which again sought to portray, let's be blunt, blatantly spin for Jaguar this story:

One could say Chris's piece reads like the tabloid version of Steve Davies' rather pompous, longwinded 'broadsheet' version, but both are aimed at spinning this patently negative story into a positive for Team Jag/JLR.

The truth is as you suggest, '585bhp', this was a live project, not simply a PR exercise from the beginning.

Did anyone else notice that JLR's press office re-issued an old story about some vague, far off plans for building some indeterminate model in Arabia at the same time the story of the C-X75 cancellation came out? The mainstream media even headlined national bulletins with the 'good news' of JLR's Arabian [fairy)Tales, helpfully burying the more telling and immediate story of Jaguar's inabilty to concoct a hypercar competitor, aginst the likes of the 918 and new Enzo. This tawdry spinning is reminiscent of the worst of Mandelson's New Labour exploits.

As to Mr Harris's worst-ever global recession. He's right - for the 99%. For the one-percenters and much more so for the one-percent of the one-percent, their wealth has grown in mushroom fashion since the 'Credit Crunch' of 2007/8, post Bear Stearns collapse in 2007 and Lehmans' in 2008.

To say Jag pulled the plug because the market is too tight, or simply not there for these ~$1m cars is disingenous at best, deliberately deceiving at worst. Central London property, fine wines, art, vintage cars, etc., etc., have all gained massively in value since the Plebs have undergone Austerity for the last four to five years. Croesus would be a pauper in the terms of the 0.01% in 2012/13.

To say the market isn't there is therefore ridiculous. The 918 and new Enzo will be huge, oversubscribed sell-outs. The one thing we know for sure won't be there is an offering in this segment from JLR.

Sorry, Chris, expected far better.

rgw2012

598 posts

142 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
I appreciate and support the fact that thechnology has to move forward but why do we have to tarnish the hypercar market with prototyping alternative propulsion methods. I want my £1m+ dream cars to satisfy both visual and aural senses. They need to not only sound great but look the part, like a timeless piece of artwork when standing still and a visceral animal in full flight. They are the poster icons of the industry. I've yet to see a battery and leads look anything like as attractive as a well crafted V8 or V12 with manifolds and exhausts snaking around the engine bay (admittedly once you remove the generic plastic covers that seem to be prevalent these days).

As long as we are able to produce petrol powered cars, those who make the ultimate versions should focus on making them memorable for what they are - the run out icons of an era that will ultimately be lost. Save the greenery experiments for the rest of the range and exploit the knowledge to serve the needs of the majority!

AllyBee

313 posts

153 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
Thankfully there's always the Pagani Huayra.

benzpassion

36 posts

135 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
JLR's press office re-announces months old story, on some vague, never to happen plan to build cars in the desert, to bury/distract from negative C-X75 cancellation real story:

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/jaguar-... - 31 Aug 2012

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/all-new... - 11 Dec 2012

Guvernator

13,103 posts

164 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
I don't really know whether Jag really intended to build it's hypercar or not, I suspect no one ever will except the Jag top brass themselves. I do agree with the poster above though. For the kind of people in the market for a £1m hypercar, it really is a case of "What recession"? as many of these people have got even richer during these troubled times by thriving off the misfortune of others so the hypercar market has never been more healthier.

However I do also agree that I find the idea of a hybrid hypercar confusing at best and downright stupid at worst as I really don't understand who this car is aimed at. So the buyer of these cars is someone who has just built his 20th oil\gas factory (tearing down an orphanage in the process) who thinks nothing of dropping £1m on a car but who will then be worried about mpg, running costs, road tax or suddenly have an attack of conscience that their £1m TOY is somehow harming the planet.....riiigghhhhtt!

kenno78

321 posts

154 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
OllieRacing said:
What I can't get my head around is, £1m for a car that doesn't draw any attention when pressing the go pedal from others around? Surely for the people (sad, big ego, probably rich mid-life crisis burdened men) An F40 or a Mclaren F1 or even (my personal favourite) the CLK GTR won not only on looks but the amazing sounds of Turbos winding up or V12s belting out a fantastic note drawing the desired attention of others, that is what these cars were built for! The thought of an electronic noise generated the same as a motor on a remote control car you can buy in toys'r'us for ONE MILLION POUNDS does not fill me with wonder, even if they are ball bustingly fast. I am sure people with better brains than me will justify this when they launch their hypercars next year but at the moment I just can't get it.... If you're spending this sort of money on a car, you're probably not that bothered about the cost of a higher rate tax disc because of your CO2 emissions, the same as the Chinese aren't phased by a Roller or a Mclaren having 150% tax applied because of the engine capacity, i'm not sure who these cars are trying to please?!
A bit harsh generalising all those who can afford a £1m car to be sad, big ego'd, mid life crisis burdened men.

In terms of preference, it's just that. You forget that you're a petrolhead, posting on a forum full of other petrolheads. I would imagine that a large portion of the super rich aren't petrolheads. But what I imagine would be important to them is status and buying excellence.

If you have the money, you buy the best thing out there (or what's perceived to be the best thing out there) as you hope that the experts who make these things, know their sh*t.

The Noise

40 posts

140 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
The point of these Hyper-Halo cars is more technical tour de force than what would ultimately make them the best steers in the world. That, unfortunately, comes a little further down the list... not very far down the list, but certainly not at the top.

These cars have to shout out loud what is the cutting edge tech the R&D these companies are doing and that no other car in the range/world etc. has got. This is what the buyers for these cars want. REAL exclusivity. Something no-one else has ever had. You don't want to be spending a cool seven figures on something that doesn't move the game on, something that can be knocked up from the cumulative components of a 'lesser' model, even if said model is the best thing on 4 wheels. Different product for largely a very different buyer. The reason why the big 3 have actually put them into production is that 1- they can afford to, 2- they have buyers for the cars, 3- the tech will trickle down to subsequent models, 4- these brands need this type of market exposure to add polish and substance to their sporting and technical heritage their other ranges can benefit from. Jag doesn't have any of those covered.

Jag did the right thing. Come with an exceptional concept, with some (almost realistic!) substance to the tech sheet. They maximised the PR and column inches, kept the brand on the boil and reasserted their sporting intentions. No such thing as bad publicity. There was no way it was ever going to be put into production, but none the less it was worth the R&D and design study and before the new batch of hyper-car announcements Jag stole a march in the vacuum of 'free' press.

Nothing wrong with what they did and filled the brief of a concept car perfectly.

Edited by The Noise on Wednesday 12th December 12:17

benzpassion

36 posts

135 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
Guvernator said:
So the buyer of these cars is someone who has just built his 20th oil\gas factory (tearing down an orphanage in the process) who thinks nothing of dropping £1m on a car but who will then be worried about mpg, running costs, road tax or suddenly have an attack of conscience that their £1m TOY is somehow harming the planet.....riiigghhhhtt!
- remember the Hollywood Gliterati falling over themselves to be seen in/acquiring pious 'Green' Priuses?

The world's elite have to sell the AGW lie to the Plebs. What better way than build contrivances only the elites can afford whilst "saving the world" from the mortal danger of, er, CO2. Parky again today.

350Matt

3,733 posts

278 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
I don't know there's lot a cities these days where you aren't allowed to drive into the centre with a high emissions vehicle so this means your Hybrid super car can still used to pop to Harrods and pose up Oxford street wheras your Pagini will not

that not to mention that all these cars still feature a pretty potent petrol engine so you've still got the fire and the fury when you want it

Plus another 400bhp of electric to go with your 500Bhp petrol ( as was CX75) not only that it'll extend the range for when you're pootling through town

Sorry chaps Hybrids are the future ans as ever the Future tech gets wheeled out for the top of the line models before filtering down

so same as it ever was

so I think it shame the CX 75 wasn't built

Macboy

732 posts

204 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
Those inside JLR and Williams F1 know this was very much a real project I'm sure.

But, Porsche has been actively courting its own loyalists with the 918 and people inside the Porsche world know that they are far from selling out of the car because the technology and price just aren't doing it for their target customers. Jaguar clearly looked at the Porsche experience (and the other less technologically complex £1m + cars coming out), remembered the XJ220 fiasco, looked at the very marginal profitability of actually selling some CX-75s (as opposed to making a few and getting 90% of the PR/brand benefit) and pulled the plug. I imagine those people working full time on the project at JLR and Williams are very disappointed it hasn't worked commercially and even more disappointed that their efforts for the past couple of years have been rubbished by journalists and enthusiasts as PR fluff when it was a very real project that people fought hard for within the business.

mikeg15

286 posts

199 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
kenno78 said:
I would imagine that a large portion of the super rich aren't petrolheads.
No, but their pampered sons, daughters and mistresses who actually get these cars, are !!

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
Wow Chris, I had a lot of respect for you until this article. You are completely wrong about C-X75.

I expect Andrew Benson of the BBC to make things up for his articles, but not you.

Al 450

1,390 posts

220 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
quotequote all
Good article Chris, however I feel that the main reasons for cancellation of the project are a lack of cash (all funds have been poured into F type) leaving the cupboard bare and secondly the fact that the original performance and fuel economy specifications were so far fetched as to be frankly unacheivable (possibly at all let alone by a small company like Jaguar). Micro gas turbines? 28g/km and 0-60 in 3.4 secs, really?